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Q: Do schools in China hire teachers illegally?
I just received an email from a non-native speaker, a regular poster on this forum, who I will keep anonymous. The email stated that the writer and several other non-native speakers were hired by the school, which is proof that hiring non-native speakers is legal.
To quote the writer: "the school wouldn't hire you if it were illegal."
Does anyone know of any schools that hire teachers illegally?
There are tons of schools in China that hire foreigners (and locals) illegally. For foreigners, if they don't get you an immediate work permit, or the company name on the permit isn't theirs, then they that is an easy sign that they are trying to hire you illegally.
Yeah. I was between jobs for two months and a school hired me on a tourist visa for that time.
Yes quite a few schools try to hire illegally leaving not only themselves in a dangerous situation but not really caring what may happen to the foreign teacher they hired who will probably not be aware of his or her position and then who will wonder what the hell happened when they find themselves without a job!
Illegal hiring is usually accompanied by a lower salary and other pretty ordinary conditions. Beware!
If worked at several schools across china, and yes, schools hire illegally all the time. The small private school especially will do anything to save a buck.
Not to mention the number of NS English speaking students trying to make some cash on the side...
And, most schools (primary, middle, secondary) and kindergartens won't have a) the right to hire a foreigner, and/or b) the money to pay at full price. So, they'll get someone else to do the hiring, and that agent (or other school) will send the teacher out to them... I'm pretty sure that's technically illegal too!
I'm getting the impression that your question should be more 'Is anyone hired legally here?" - especially in the T3 and worse cities....
Another thing to bear in mind - even if you're working legally, doesn't mean you're being dealt with fairly..(or legally).
does a bear #$^& in the woods all the schools hire illigal workers and its to bad for the people that earn the right to work legally and it keeps wages low so when a school hires an illigal worker that takes money out of the pocket of people who work legally its really to bad
thats how lots of people are surviving in this country. (working illegally)
Did Kurt Cobain get high?
I think half the foreign teachers in China work illegally.
Who cares...if someone wants to fake it to make shit money in China ( a pittance compared to qualified teachers)...can you fault them...this is the land of bullshit.
BTW I am the re-incarnation of Jim Morrison.
2Much4U:
Last week Jimmy Hendrix, Janet Joplin and I were reading the CFTU annual report and they said 37% of foreign teachers are hired on L visas and 48% of all private schools are not registered nor licensed to teach. So I think anyone working for one of those 48% would be working illegally, and I think those schools like it that way because it give them super leverage and control. Teachers in China have simply become... Riders On The Storm.
Is Michael Jordan arguably the greatest professional basketball player ever? What the **** kind of question is that? Of course, there are people teaching illegally in China. And, in South Korea,etc.
there is no problem with working a second job in big cities but word gets aroung in small ones when your the only foreigner, then you need relationships to make it work.
the problem is the work contract clause , responsible for your safety and security, if you get hurt ,have a fight or anything goes wrong at a different school than what is on your visa , all hell can break loose, your sponsor can lose the license to hire teachers , lose the relationship with psp because you gave them problems and of course the school that hired you illegally may never be allowed the right to hire in the future. for the teacher if your sponsor school in not happy with you , you may have to pay a fine to the psp , but if your school needs you , they may be able to make everything go away. if you take the second job , dont neglect the first one in anyway, i do volunteer english corners that im paid for that other teachers want do and the school does not care where i work and sometimes the teachers work other schools that are chinese and give me the leads to other deals. show up on time , do the job, and keep your mouth shut, making 20k plus in a tier 2 city is not hard.
paulmartin:
Keep taking the psp,and the English corner maybe you will turn one soon
Traveler:
You would agree that you are working illegally? And also that you do not have the language skills to teach English?
being illegal has nothing to do with the fact your a native speaker or not, so whats the point of mentioning the fact that the teachers are not native speakers, its irrelevant
Point of this question is to get free raincoat at echinacities!
Why did you come to China Traveler? Not too many Schools in China can really value your superb English skills.
Why don't you try yourself in more demanding teaching market as it is in Native English countries, or Europe and Russia?
China must be for you like 'I would surf in my own bathtub' comparable to surfing in the open Ocean?
You shouldn't stare in the mirror, while you are writing replies to less 'fortunate' English teachers on Echina Board.
this is a relaxed forum , i dont use proper english here but as to my ability, i have a celta and my ielts students do get 7 scores in speaking because i make sure they know idioms, uncommon vocabulary and paraphrasing. i dont judge others here trying to make a living, everyone has been a neophyte , chill out everything is copesetic
MARON Schools are illegal and they will steal your pay guaranteed. If you try to ask for what they owe they will call the police and threaten to have you deported.
Just about everywhere you go it's like this. I've seen it all and know what you will find. It's usually someone who can speak really good Chinese but has no college education/experience whatsoever. Now speaking Chinese is a plus! And maybe the person just couldn't pass a math class which would prevent him to get most degrees or all degrees. I'm sure in order to get a degree you need to take some level of math.
Well that's not true I knew someone in China that got a degree but didn't take any math classes. But normally you do. So you know they could have their reasons for not being able to obtain a degree and since they know they can speak English and communicate in Chinese they come to get a job. That's the common type I've found here who are illegal. I don't think they would be here in the first place if they couldn't communicate in Chinese because they have no college level education afterall and who can you blame really?
A person can't pass math! Whose fault is it? I know going to school at least in highschool back home the majority of the teachers did nothing. I still got out of the $hithole and managed to learn things on my own and be successful. . . in my educational pursuits as well as other pursuits in life!
well NO ONE would hire an English teacher in japan if he couldn't speak Japanese, at least basic Japanese, so in Europe. And i guess same would happened in USA for a chinese trying to find a job as a Chinese teacher, he should at least being able to speak basic english.
mattsm84:
Its not a qualification for the JET program either. Now that I've taken a minute to think about it knowing Japanese is liability in a job interview because they feel, anal as they are, the temptation to use it would be too great. They do hire you to speak English after all.
Traveler:
Japan has the same policy as China with regards to English teachers. They will hire any native speaker with a degree. I believe China copied this policy from Japan. Japanese language skills are not required.
The difference is, Japan actually enforces its own laws, probably due to the fact that it isn't riddled with corruption like China, and has a far superior education system.
I've worked at 5 different schools. Only one of them hired me "legally". I was always on the incorrect type of Visa and as far as I know taxes weren't being paid.
Very common. Like someone else said, I probably half of all foreign teachers are teaching illegally, if not more.
Some goes for non teaching jobs as well although that seems to be a lot more rare.
Traveler:
I noticed you used quotes for "legally" indicating that it was not really legal, just had the appearance of being so. I also note from other posts that you have always worked illegally apart from the one job.
If you are legal, it is dead easy to get out of contracts, yet you claim you had problems. This makes me wonder if it really was legal, or if you used a fake company, or fake qualifications.
Are you a qualified and experienced (outside China) teacher, and was the Z visa issued for your school, or another company?
